Lerros to open100 standalone stores in the next five years

German casual wear brand Lerros that entered India with a joint venture two years ago, is working on an expansion plan. The brand that has positioned itself as a premium casual everyday wear is planning to add 10 standalone stores in 2010-11. With the new stores, the number of Lerros

exclusive stores in India will go up to 20. The cities that they are planning to add these stores are: Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kolkata among the metros and Jalandhar, Amritsar, Coimbatore, Guwahati and Pune among the Tier I cities. That is not all in the next five years their aim is to push the number of exclusive stores to 100-150.

In India for the last two years, the German multinational has had a rather slow start so far.  They entered India in 2008, after inking a JV partnership with House of Pearl Fashions. This led to the creation of Lerros Fashions India. The German company has 40 per cent stake in the JV and plans to invest around Rs 16.80 crores. “In India we are still in the learning mode. We are trying to understand the Indian consumer and how to tailor an international product to their needs. The last two years have been extremely good for us. We have opened 10 exclusive stores and are available in over 40 shop-in-shops across the country,” says S Ramprasad, CEO, Lerros Fashions India.

The brand has positioned itself in the everyday casual wear segment. “There’s no exact definition of casual wear. The market is so large we are not taking away anyone’s share. Rather we are creating a niche and growing in the market,” he says. Besides the 10 EBOs, Lerros is also available through shop-in-shops in large formats like Central and Shoppers Stop. The plan is to expand with these large formats as they go into other cities. In five years, Lerros is aiming to add another 100 to 150 EBOs, and an equal number of shop-in-shops. The EBOs are being operated both as company-managed and franchisees.

Lerros is looking forward to a 60 per cent growth in turnover by March 2011.